The Nile Story

(Be warned: this is mainly for our record and we completely understand that you will probably get bored and stop reading.)

The adventure began at 4:30am as we left Kigali. We boarded a “charter” bus for Uganda, not realizing that 1) we would spend the next 14 hours on it and 2) it was probably the most dangerous portion of our journey. Rwanda is such a small country that traveling 3 hours from Kigali in any direction brings you to the border of another. You have to file paperwork to leave Rwanda and to enter the next country, a process that still befuddles me. I lived up to my reputation of champion sleeper and was able to snooze my way through the long ride.  The “bathrooms” along the way left much to be desired; namely, a toilet, a stall, toilet paper. There was also sometimes a fee for the experience which we would have preferred not to pay. We finally made it to Jinja, and thanks to our excellent friends, who navigated our way in the dark to the hostel we were staying at.

The hostel is run by Nile River Explorers and we had a great experience with them: hot water, water pressure, towels, decent food, reasonable prices. The day we went rafting, we didn’t have to pay for our stay and were provided 3 meals.

The rafting experience was great. We had a short training on how to fall, how to get back into the boat, and how to paddle before embarking on the rest of the river. The only downside was that we weren’t placed in the boat with the other 7 teachers, but there were only 2 boats and so we were able to watch their adventures.

All day long, we were just stunned by the beauty of the Nile. There were lush green hills surrounding it, the water was clear and pleasant. We saw a monitor lizard, even though our guide said it was a baby crocodile, and I was the lucky one who saw a monkey in the tree. We laughed all day at the people who surprised us jumping off rocks as they were bathing in the river since we didn’t see them until they catapulted off the side. We ate lunch on the boat, floating peacefully, eating delicious pineapple and glucose crackers with a sad faced little girl on them. We never quite figured out why that picture was used.

We’re going to try something new here.  This is Levi writing now.  If you see italics, it’s Levi writing, if it’s normal font, it’s Erin.  We’ll see how that works out.

As for the rafting, we were also were surprised to see thousands of pine trees along the river.  Thousands of pine trees, for quite a few kilometers along the east side of the river.  Lasted for maybe 5 kilometers or so.  Being a bit taken back by the pine trees (I suppose you wouldn’t think a pine tree would be shocking, but after a few months in Rwanda you‘d be surprised), we asked our guide what the story was.  He told us that there had previously been “fishers” there, folks that had done their fishing by using dynamite.  Bad for the Nile.  So, the government came in, planted acres of pine trees, and told the fishermen that they were now Christmas tree farmers.  And so they are.

Like we mentioned in the early post, there were 12 rapids over 18.6 miles and four of them were Class V. It was pretty amazing to look back at the rapids we just finished. We only fell out 3 of the 12 times, which wasn’t so bad, and felt a deep sense of accomplishment when we didn’t. There was always a moment of trepidation as we were coasting along and then heard the rapids as we prepared our strategy. We were followed the whole way by expert kayakers who were there to rescue us whenever we fell. There was also a medic raft, complete with a platform, that we thankfully never needed for anything other than our bag of sunscreen. The kayakers took the Class VI rapid we had to walk around and they were amazing. There was a big group of people along the river who were watching them. We have a copy of the time on DVD, but haven’t seen it yet. It was definitely an amazing experience that we will always remember.

We ended the day with a fantastic barbecue and a spectacular view before heading back to the hostel for much needed relaxation. The next day we walked the town of Jinja and even treated ourselves to some delicious ice cream. We saw Lake Victoria and it was also great just to see parts of the country of Uganda. Jinja is supposed to be the adventure capital of Africa and judging from the activities advertised it seems to live up to it: rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, bungee jumping over the Nile. It is also supposed to be source of the Nile, so that makes us feel important. :)

We arrived at the bus station at 11:30pm, as directed, and were told that the bus would most likely arrive between 1am and 2am. It actually was pretty nice as we sat under the stars and played games and chatted together. It was just the 9 of us at the station and the company worker provided chairs for us. We were so thankful the way that the travel details worked out because we sat at the Jinja station for two hours instead of at the Kampala station for two hours. Kampala made us appreciate the cleanliness and order of Kigali we didn’t even know we should be thankful for. The bus finally arrived at 1:45am, and we rejoiced that there were, in fact, the 9 seats reserved for us, relatively together.

When crossing the border leaving from Uganda, we all got off the bus, did our paperwork, and walked the ¼ kilometer back into Rwanda.  That in itself was interesting.  Once we had done all this though, and were ready to get back on the bus, the bus employees started taking everyone’s bags off the bus.  This had not happened on our way into Uganda.  While we were guessing why they were doing this (perhaps to get us all into our assigned seats?  Ha ha ha…), the employees started opening peoples’ suitcases and bags.  We still didn’t know what was going on until they caught someone with the dreaded contraband – PLASTIC BAGS!  So, a few folks got yelled at, got their bags (the plastic ones) taken away, and we boarded the bus, only a couple hours more until we were home.

We made it to Kigali in the early afternoon and enjoyed some rest before the usual routine of school began again.

If you want to see photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2601770&id=2513425&l=d57f278fe5.  It doesn't matter if you're not on facebook.

the short story: alive, amazed, and thankful

What an adventure. We survived 28 hours in a bus to raft 12 rapids on the Nile River, 4 of them Class V. It was a beautiful 30 km (18.6 miles) down the river that was lush and green and lovely. We have so much to be thankful for about transportation, safety, accommodations, navigators, etc. I don't think the details of the trip itself could have gone more smoothly than it did. We even got to eat creamy, delicious ice cream. The Nile itself was just breathtaking. I will be getting photos from the others soon and will write the long version later. Thank you for your prayers. Please join us in thanking God for his abundant provision.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Upcoming Travels

As you all are preparing for turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie, we would love a little prayer for our Thanksgiving plans. Since we are teaching at an American-style school, we get the upcoming Thursday and Friday off, as usual. However, we have decided to join the other teachers on an excursion to Uganda to go rafting on the Nile River. (It's so unreal just to write that.) As the day of departure gets closer, I'm getting a little bit more nervous. Please pray for all the travel logistics to go smoothly, protection from disease, for safety, especially on the river, to not get robbed, etc. I don't know all of what could go wrong, but those are the main things I'm worried about. :) Anyway, I know that we are in God's hands and so that is comforting. It will also be a fabulous adventure that we will always remember and I am just hoping that all the memories are pleasant. We will be gone Thursday - Sunday. Thanks for remembering us in your prayers!

sometimes in Africa...

Sometimes...
...we play the "I miss America" game and name off all the things we're looking forward to. This either ends in laughter or tears.
...our toilet works perfectly.
...or toilet is extremely noisy, slow, and inspires fervent prayer and fear
...we really miss the seasons
...a coffee shop is the most comforting place to be
....it's shocking how it goes from stormy torrential rain to hot sunny weather in less than an hour.
...we lose water at the house for unknown reasons and then it returns for unknown reasons
...Levi is showering when we lose said water and must stand soapy until I hear him yelling for help
...we have electricity. 
...Ava's bunnies poop in our office, leaving us a few surprises the floor
...the day's crazy events are unsurprising
...the day's crazy events are shocking
....you buy things and they stop working the next day. (that one may be more than just "sometimes".)
...we can talk with our driver in English and feel like both parties understand
...the store has the items it had in stock last week.
...we have to be anti-social and get work done. good bye.

Blessed be

This past weekend, we went to the orphanage here in Kigali with fellow teachers to play with kids. It was a surreal experience. We were not allowed to take photos, but I so wish I could share their smiles with you. They came running to us the moment we walked in, with a little one jumping straight into Levi's arms. I too got one running up to me for a big hug. They were absolutely precious - big smiles, big hugs. It was fun to be there with Levi, Kristen, the girls, and other teachers from the school. The visiting hours are during their snack time where they receive bread and chai (a milk drink with spices). The orphanage was founded by Mother Theresa, and you can admire a lovely statue of her across the grounds. The children we played with were about 2-5 years old. There were younger ones in a room, but we were out on the play yard. There were about 50 children, so it was nice that there were at least 10 of us there. Kristen and I both were singing to them, getting choked up several times.

As I reflect on the experience, I have just been so moved by thinking about what God did for me, how He sent me to my family at such a young age, and the family he placed me in. I'm in a devotional group that's going through 1 Peter and we were reading chapter 2 the week before that spoke about how once we were not a people, but now we belong to God and we are to proclaim his excellencies. It was a powerful image to see the children, to think of my experience with my family here on this Earth, and then to think of my Father in heaven. Anyway, we would appreciate prayer for us to be able to go out there regularly and to be the hands and arms of love for them.

I've been musing on and encouraged by this song:
Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful, when the sun's shining down on me, blessed be your name.
Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, when there's pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

Thank you for your love and support. We are deeply blessed by your prayers and encouragement.

the sweet ride

as promised.
Levi is now the proud owner of a TVS Apache 160cc.




It was a long discussed purchase, but eventually we decided it would be best so we have an easy way to get to school early and home from our late meetings. I usually go with him about half the time. I don't know quite how I feel about the feeling of seat-belt free riding and missing four metal walls around me - not the best feeling in the world and not the worst. I really appreciate how helpful it is for us to get around. You see, there are not any street names and our home is down a big hill on a very bumpy road - not a majorly unique description. It made me fairly uncomfortable attempting to 1) take a moto 2) at night 3) separated from Levi 4) without speaking Kinyarwandan. But the white sedans used as taxis were very expensive and not really capable of the fourwheel driving required to the house. It is a serious incline with massive ruts in the mud. It is as steep (or more) as my parents driveway and not as nicely paved.

Anyway, I'm trying to nickname the bike Sam because I don't like calling it a "moto" or "motorbike" or "motorcycle" - too much of a mouthful and "motos" are the guys in the bright vests who don't speak English. There's a valid reason for calling it Sam -









Anyway, it's been great fun for Levi and one of the other teachers just bought one last week too. They are just following after our fearless headmaster (Trevor Maxwell) who also is a proud and happy bike owner (his is actually a dirt bike). Levi is a very good driver and always speaks English well. I'm not such a good passenger because I don't anticipate the surges in the clutch and end up knocking my helmet with Levi's at least once a ride.

Speaking of my helmet...




I'm very happy there was an alternative to the bright pink one a friend got.





my reflection in the top photo is the most you'll see of me in the helmet. I about die of embarrassment when we have to take off in front of a gathering of the high schoolers.


I'm trying to convince the kids to use Levi's helmet as a R2D2 costume for Halloween.





She said she would rather be a bunny.

a day in the life

5am - Levi's alarm goes off. He's up for coffee and Bible time on the balcony.
6:15am - Erin's alarm goes off. She does not get up unless it is a very productive morning.
6:25 - most likely out of bed. Thanks the Lord for a voltage converter so the curling iron works.
6:45 - Levi leaves for school on his sweet ride. (next post.)
7:15ish - Erin and the kids leave for school in the car with in the car with Africa (our driver. more on that next post too).
7:57 - Levi puts the yellow Fox 40 whistle to work. He is the school bell.
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1st period . Mr. Fletcher teaches Geometry. Mrs. Fletcher thanks the Lord for first period prep, enjoys Bible time, and very spiritually prays that one of the two printers and copy machines a) work. b) have ink. and c) have electricity.
2nd Period. Mr. Fletcher teaches 6th grade math. Mrs. Fletcher teaches 9th-10th World Studies.
Chai Break. Aunt Erin peeks out and watches Ella, Weston, and Ava playing.
3rd Period. Mr. Fletcher enjoys a prep period, often strumming a guitar, serenading Mrs. Fletcher next door. This is usually not a problem unless Mrs. Fletcher is giving a test on US History to 15 students who have never been to the US.
4th Period: Mr. Fletcher is very loud and rambunctious teaching 7th grade math because he got lonely about 10 minutes earlier during his prep. Mrs. Fletcher enjoys a prep period to sit and contemplate how to be a better teacher.
Lunch! Both the Fletchers enjoy free hot lunch provided by the school.
5th Period: Mr. Fletcher finishes eating because he has spent most of lunch helping kids with math or playing a little foursquare or supervising the lunchroom. Mrs. Fletcher teaches 6th grade Bible every other day.
6th Period: Mr Fletcher teaches 7th or 8th grade PE, while Mrs. Fletcher has the opposite grade in Bible.
7th Period: Mr. Fletcher supervises 6th grade study hall. Mrs. Fletcher teaches 9-10th or 11th-12th grade Bible.
The yellow Fox 40 whistle retires for the day. The owner does not.
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Depending on the day, we get home between 3:30 and 5. We eat a little snack, play with the bunnies and kiddos, work a little in our office, and then help Kris with dinner.
After dinner we do the dishes and then settle in for a long night of work.
Levi heads to bed as early as he can. He is very good about having a proper bedtime.
Erin works until her eyelids get too heavy to go on, then jumps in the shower and says a little prayer of thanks for the excellent hot water. Sometimes the shower is revitalizing enough to get a little more done, but other times it's just relaxing to crash into bed.

and then it all begins again.

Collection of thoughts

This is going to be a random post because there are so many little things to say.

-You prepay for electricity here by buying a code sold by "Cash Power." The first time I heard someone say they needed more cash power, I thought we were off to exchange money.

-It's currently 6:12 pm and pitch black. The sun sets every day all year by 6:15. One minute it's bright, then next it's black.

- I continously have new bites on my legs and can't figure out why. I've always had more than my fair share of scrapes and scars on my legs, but it's a new record here. It doesn't help that I think I scratch in my sleep when I'm stressed.

-You can buy bagels and tortillas here that are very tasty. Cream cheese however is $7 for the smallest carton.

-The school just formed two soccer teams. Makes it feel more like home to have high school sports to root for.

-Culture shock does hit after a month.

-I am totally used to sleeping under a mosquito net.

-I am not used to the extreme disparity of wealth: mansions directly next to concrete walls.

Settling in...

Hello friends! Sorry for the long delay of posting. Making plans here in Africa is much easier said than done. :) We plan to post weeekly, but only the Lord knows for sure.

We are getting settled now in our 5th and final house. It's absolutely lovely and truly a wonderful set up for us and the Urquhart family. Levi and I have the lower level with a bedroom, bathroom, and even miraculously, a study. We have one small desk right now that is thankfully just long enough for two laptops. The hot water has worked ever since Day 4, and for that we are very very thankful. I'll attempt to remember to post pictures soon, but there are two great porches where we sit and enjoy the pleasant evening weather. The couches have yet to arrive, but there is at least a lovely dining room table big enough for all of us.

We continue to enjoy our school, staff, and the students. God is doing great things here at school and it's such a joy to serve him with fellow believers. It is tiring work each day, of course, but comforting to know that God is with us, strengthening us.

For those of you who can, please enjoy the following creature comforts we're missing. We'll try to live vicariously through your senses.
-sour candy
-clothes with the fresh dryer softness and warmth
-shopping at Trader Joes
-frozen yogurt
-boneless, skinless chicken
-sunsets that last more than (not exaggerating) 4 minutes. It goes from sunny to pitch dark so fast.
and now I should stop. :)

We are enjoying fantastic pineapple, ripe avocados, and delicious handmade bagels. So far, the most adventurous new food has been goat, thanks to Louisiana's finest host and hostess. We stayed there for House #2 and they threw us all long awaited goat roast once the rest of the Karisimbi clan arrived. It was some of the best barbecue I'd ever had. Kristen's food is of course delicious as always. Sadly are moving through our dearly loved rations of almond butter, brownie mix, brown sugar, chocolate chips, M&Ms, etc.

The kids are thrilled with each gecko and toad and skink that they find in the yard. There are lovely little birds that Kristen could tell you about, but so far all I know is we've seen a brightly colored kingfisher, a crowned crane for sale in someone's pocket along the road, a cute little black and white bird, and a cute little gray bird. Kristen announced yesterday there were bat droppings on the window and apparently this is something to cheer about, not be grossed out by.

All in all, we're still getting settled, but at least we're on the path. It's hard to believe we haven't even yet been here two months. Thank you for your prayers for us as we try to love and teach the students of Kigali.

Water

Continuing the thoughts about water... So far, this house has had an inconsistent water situation. We never know if there will be hot water or water pressure or even any water at all. It is quite a guessing game -"Should I shower now with a small trickle of warm water or hope it will be better in the morning?" We have generally erred on the side of just showering at night, but we have also rushed through a quite cold stream.

It really makes me appreciate the times when there is both hot water and pressure, but I am also very aware of the fact that clean, running water is a luxury. I am deeply thankful we are not hauling huge vats of water up a hill each morning. It's hard to imagine what a day in the life is like for our neighbors only kilometers away.

rain

I've never been one of those people crazy about rain. I wasn't one of those dance in the rain, splash in the puddles types. (I did do some puddle jumping once, but someone tried to take my picture and I thought they were going to kidnap me since that was one of the warning signs from the anti-kidnapping news special my mom made me watch the night before. So that kind of dampened my fun.) I don't enjoy my feet getting soaked. Or my hair getting plastered. I prefer the nice hot drink by a fire next to a window watching the rain with a good book or movie.

However, the rainy season here is quite nice. I might be singing a different tune in a few months, but right now, I actually enjoy it. It rains for about an hour and today is the first time it's been overcast for the rest of the day. It has usually cleared up after the rain. The rain makes everything fresh and green and settles the dust. I had to run across campus the other day during a torrential downpour and it was pretty enjoyable, even amidst the smidgen of panic I felt for the laptop in my backpack and the phone in my pocket I was desperately trying to protect. Yesterday, the kids made themselves silly with glee jumping on the trampoline in the rain. I kept eyeing the swing, but decided in the end to stay dry. They say rainy season is off and on for the next 6 months, so I'll have plenty of time to work up to that rain dance.

Kigali Restaurant Fun

We feel the need to let you all know about the restaurant scene here. Food is very important to our people. In addition to the school's hot lunch each day, we have enjoyed delicious Indian, Asian, Italian, and American food with excellent ambiance. We have also enjoyed creating silly jokes, thanks to one restaurant we went to this weekend called Heaven.

Here are the top 10 things we can tell you about Heaven:
-The popcorn is free in Heaven.
-They show kid-friendly movies at 6 and adult movies at 8. (films for adults, not to be confused with "adult films.")
-Heaven has at least 2 owners -one man and one woman. The man's name does start with a J. (Josh)
-There is an old woman who lives on the other side of Heaven.
-Heaven just opened 2 years ago.
-Heaven only has room for 5 cars in the parking lot. Additional parking is located outside the gates.
-Heaven offers a full bar service.
-The fries are really good in Heaven.
-Heaven has an excellent view.
-You can buy t-shirts and hats to prove you made it to Heaven.

and a few more just for fun:
-Heaven does not have a half pipe.
-There are people of all nations in Heaven.
-Unfortunately, we did not see you in Heaven nor a reservation in your name.

Home #3

Well, it’s been a busy week since the last post. (I started writing this post on Monday, the day that internet got set up. But clearly, things got busy again.) We have since moved two houses and will eventually move two more times when we settle in after the rest of my family arrives. It has just absolutely been a whirlwind of activity. It feels like we’ve been here a month, but it’s only been 10 days. Crazy. All last week was orientation activities with the rest of the staff, which was absolutely great. We got to go on a excursion to a small lake, which I’ll post a picture of soon. As could be expected, we were very involved with scheduling. It was a great way to help get settled with the school.

Today is Thursday, the 3rd day of school. It has been going very well and it’s wonderful to see the kids we have been preparing for and thinking about all summer. It’s great to put names and faces together. God truly is blessing my prep time and even in the middle of class to sense his direction. I hope this feeling continues the whole time.

Our classes are right next to each other, which is wonderful. The school is a great brick building, with two areas of campus, one for elementary and one for secondary. It's up on top of a hill, so there's a great view of the whole city. I don't think we can say enough about the administration - they are amazing and wonderful and better than we ever dreamed. We love working with the Headmaster, Trevor Maxwell, and think he's doing an amazing job guiding the school through transition. But seriously, everyone who is there at the school wants to be there and is willing to work hard to make everything come together. It's truly a great work environment.

Keep praying for us - we can feel prayers and God sustaining us in this hectic time. I don't quite have all my textbooks yet, so that makes things a little interesting. But it's such a neat feeling to see God provide for us in the midst of everything. The classes I do have books for are going well and I'm enjoying creating lesson plans. I am definitely enjoying teaching and am so thankful for classrooms and desks! Our class sizes are amazing - I don't have more than 14 right now and Levi doesn't have more than 10!

Thank you for your love and support. We miss you all!

Arrival!

We and all our luggage have arrived! We are staying in a house that has wireless internet, and the connection works better than we dared to hope.

The layover in London was stressful, but we made it. Thank the Lord we had 7 hours between our flights, because it took us 5 hours to get everything done. We had to change terminals, which included taking a bus (that we had to load and unload all 19 pieces of luggage by ourselves) for 15 minutes. We figured out it was at least 700 lbs of weight. It was quite difficult just finding out how we were supposed to get to the other terminal with all the luggage and many of the boxes had been severely damaged. I bought some tape, which helped. We first tried getting everything on 2 trolleys and wearing the other pieces, but ended up needed 3 trolleys. The layover in Nairobi felt like we were arriving in subway station - really hot, crowded. We were so tired because we tried to advance to London/Kigali time as quickly as possible, which meant giving up a good night's sleep. I don't know if I would do it that way again, fyi. I couldn't make it through the London flight and slept 3 hours, but Levi stayed awake. We tried to sleep on the 8.5 hour trip from London to Kenya, but for some reason, they only turned off the cabin lights for about 3 hours, so that's all we got then. We had to take a nap this afternoon, but I don't think it will be any problem at all to sleep tonight. All in all, it was 22 hours of airplane time, 37 hours of total travel time leaving from Auburn at 12:30pm Wednesday and arriving what would have been 1:30am Friday. It took us about an hour to clear customs, but that was only because we had boxes for the school.

Thank you for all your prayers. Everything could have been much worse, and even though I got a little anxious on the flight, I was able to sleep and wake up feeling better. When we boarded the plane in Nairobi, they wouldn't let us take our 2 carryons on the plane, so they tagged them and sent them below. I was so concerned because I wasn't positive they were going to make it on the plane and they had our change of clothes, but most importantly, our new camera. But everything made it and we even could watch it being loaded on the plane. The last pieces, but at least on.

I'm feeling fine physically, other than being tired and my feet swollen. I was thinking from the airplane, but then someone mentioned it might be from the altitude. Levi has a sore throat, but I think it's just what I had last week which healed quickly.

Kigali definitely meets the nickname Land of a Thousand Hills. It's lovely and green everywhere. It was actually drizzling when we arrived, but it cleared up quickly. The houses dotting the landscape are very nice looking, even quite stunning in the wealthy areas. We both got showers as soon as we got in the house, which was fantastic. We got to see the school and our classrooms - they are right next to each other, which is great. The school buildings are really nice, and the classroom has neat wood desks. They don't have white boards, but put up a piece of laminate over a white area of the wall and that works.

Levi just came home with an avocado the size of a coconut which he bought for 40 cents. Our hostess served us salmon for dinner, which she said cost about $30 for a package of 4 fillets about palm size. So a random collection of prices. We had fantastic pineapple on the plane, so feel hopeful about that here.

We feel pretty good emotionally, Levi was pretty much glowing when we got in sight of Kenya. I think my bubbly excitement will come in a little later, like once we get a little more settled. We're staying with a family from the school now, moving to my brother-in-law's business partners the day after tomorrow, and then moving to my brother-in-law's house whenever we can after that. So lots of transition. I feel very peaceful now, which is more my personality anyway.

It's 9pm now and I definitely feel like I could go to bed. I have some dessert tucked away in a carryon bag, which I'll treat myself to before we go to sleep.

Prayer Requests

Just a few general thoughts here on the first day...

• Our health and safety, especially protection from malaria
• Team unity and cohesion
• Logistical details for the family
• Excellence in Teaching
  
• Wisdom and discernment in decision making, especially finances
  
• Balance between life/work/family/fun

our flight path

Our tickets for Kigali are now officially booked! I'm actually really excited about flying - it will be a nice time on the plane together to sleep, read, pray, and begin to feel like this whole adventure is officially happening.

We have a pretty excellent flight path, thanks to Royal Travel and Tours who book missionary/humanitarian flights. They have been super helpful and I would highly recommend them.

We leave San Francisco the evening of the 19th of Aug and fly directly to London. We have a 7 hour layover there - not too long, not too short to feel stressed out about clearing customs/missing our flight. I don't think we have time to go see London a little, but it's okay. I love the Heathrow airport. There's lots to do. From London we got to Nairobi, Kenya, deplane, reboard, and head on to Kigali. All in all, not so bad. The total flying time is 22 hours and 10 minutes, but we arrive at in the morning of the 21st.

I'm not too concerned about sleeping on the airplane, but Levi is, so please pray that he will be able to adjust and sleep properly to help us get on Kigali time as soon as possible. I don't know if the school has activities planned for us immediately on Friday, but we're the 2nd to last to arrive, so we want to be able to hit the ground running.

the shot list

In case you're thinking of visiting Africa, here are the shots we were told we needed for Rwanda:

-Hep A

-Hep B

-Typhoid

-Yellow Fever

-Polio booster

-Tetanus (in case you're due, which we are)

+Malaria pills

*They also recommend three shots of rabies, but apparently there's a shortage so we can't get them.

For someone who can't even look at needles without getting anxious (me), this is not a comforting list.  I did one on Monday and have at least two to go, pending the discovery of medical records.

Africa Advice?

There are so many details we're working on right now for our move in 2 months, but I also want to take advantage of the wealth of information you have! We have lived internationally before, but not for a year and not in Africa. If you have any tips, advice, stories, anything, we want to know! Help us out by leaving a comment or send an email.

Links

Photos: Will post a site once we have photos to post

Our School: Kigali International Community School

Communication: Skype, Facebook, Gmail

Interested in Supporting Us Financially?

**UPDATED 9/12/09**

Our school KICS exists as a Christian option for the city of Kigali. It also allows families to continue their children's education in an American-style setting. The school also seeks to serve the Rwandan national students and truly provide an international community. Although many families are Christians, we also have the opportunity to daily share Jesus with our students.

We would love your support in prayer and any financial donations you can provide. We deeply value the opportunity to go to another country as full-time workers and share the love of God with the students and families we will be ministering to. However, it has been strongly advised by the school (and assumed in the salary structure) that we supplement our salary from them with donations. We have already received a very generous gift that covers a large portion of our living expenses, but we want to take this opportunity to partner with you to serve the people of Rwanda.


We believe there is much that God is going to teach us in this process of raising financial and prayer support. We have been profoundly blessed in times where we have supported other believers financially and hope that you experience a deeper connection to us, to Rwanda, and to the Lord in this experience. Please think about joining us and let us know if you have any questions. We would also love to hear if you are planning on supporting us through prayer and/or financial means (either one time donation or monthly). Thank you!

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Bridgeway Christian Church has graciously agreed to provide tax-deductible receipts for your records. They will deposit the complete contribution funds in our bank account once a month. Please feel free to contribute either a one time donation or on a more frequent basis, whatever is most convenient for you. If you feel comfortable doing so, we would very much appreciate it if you let us know what your plan is, so that we can confirm that the correct amount has been deposited and to help us estimate our budget. (We don't expect any technical difficulties, but just in case something happens through the mail or the processing. If you feel like making it a secret, we love surprises too.)

So, here are the details:
1) Checks should be made out to "Bridgeway Christian Church" with "Levi and Erin Fletcher" listed in the Memo section.
2) Add in a little slip of paper that says you want the money to be deposited into our account.
3) Please put "Donation for Fletchers - Rwanda" in big letters on the back of the envelope to help it stand out from the various letters that the church receives.
4) Mail to:
Bridgeway Christian Church
3735 Placer Corporate Drive
Rocklin, CA 95765

(If you attend Bridgeway, I think you can put an envelope in the offering basket, but please make the envelope has all the information.)

Whatever we receive over $3000 ($300 x 10 months), we hope to use to directly bless someone we encounter in Kigali. We are not sure what that will look like at this time, so please pray for us to have open eyes and use wise discernment as we see needs. We so look forward to sharing this experience with you and filling you in on what God is doing on the other side of the world.


Joint Email: levianderin@gmail.com

Erin

Contact Info

Email: ErinGFletcher@gmail.com

Skype: eringrace84

Facebook? Dedicated

Levi

Contact Info

Email: mail.levifletcher@gmail.com

Skype: LandEFletcher

Facebook? Minimal

the Mr. and Mrs.

Well, hello there! Thanks again for visiting the blog. We'll try to be good bloggers since it's a great way to keep in touch.

So a little bit about us...

We actually met on a missions trip in Mexico with our high school church youth group in 1999. Our friendship grew over the next year and a half and then officially became a couple on December 30, 2000. Erin went off to UCLA and we made it through a year of long distance, including the four months Levi was in Guatemala, before Levi decided to move to Los Angeles. Through our time in LA, we both began to make our faith in Jesus the most important part of our lives and our relationship. We got engaged in 2005 and married on July 1, 2006. We continued to live in West LA, where Levi finished up his degree at CSUN and Erin got to fulfill a dream job working as a counselor at UCLA. The next year solidified Levi's desire to become a teacher as he worked at Fairburn Elementary and Groza Learning Center. He applied to the teacher credential programs at CSUN and Sac State, letting God show us what part of California to live in. Through the timing of the decisions, we accepted the program at Sac State and moved 400 miles north to Roseville. We found out later that he had been accepted to CSUN as well, but it was clear that we were meant to spend the year up here. Levi had a great time with the program and Erin got experience teaching that she would not have had in LA. And now we're off to Africa!

Information You Never Knew You Cared About:

Name:	Levi	Erin
Birthday:	Apr	May
Birth Order:	Complicated. Youngest (Dad's family), Only (biological), Oldest (Mom's family)	Youngest, with Tendencies of Only
Siblings:	4 sisters, 1 brother	2 sisters, 2 brothers
Myers Briggs Personality:	ESTJ (Extrovert Sensing Thinking Judging)	INTJ (Introvert Intuitive Thinking Judging)
Method of reading:	Books on Tape	A book a day is my dream
Rural Credentials:	Legit - Farm life in Humboldt County, Cranberry bogging on grandparent's farm every vacation	Observer - Cows in the field next door, turkeys roosting on the driveway
City Proof:	Street ball with the homies	Red carpet movie premiere
Claim to Fame:	Basketball Player #1 in Underclassman (sadly uncredited on imdb)	Spelling Bee champ
Sporting activities:	Full contact sports: Rugby, wrestling, basketball	Non-contact sports: Yoga, pilates, volleyball
What I miss about TV:	ESPN	Friends reruns, Food Network
iPod playlist:	Sermons, books, Pearl Jam, Guns N Roses, Techno (like Moby)	Everything but techno (like Moby) and opera
Pandora stations:	Coldplay, Cake, Weezer	Alanis, Feist, Coldplay
Movies I will watch more than once:	Braveheart, Boondock Saints, Legends of the Fall.	Every movie I like
Authors I'll Read Everything They Scribe:	Tim Keller, Malcolm Gladwell, Theodor Geisel	Madeleine L'Engle, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien
Ideal sleep per day:	7 hours	10 hours
Dessert Philosophy:	Just give me more dinner, unless it's creme brulee.	Dessert is an essential part of every day

The Land of A Thousand Hills

Well, we don't know much about Rwanda, but what we do, we'll share. It's a very small landlocked country about the size of Maryland in Sub-Saharan eastern Africa that has a very pleasant climate year round. There's a special protected society of gorillas. 

That's all for now. Anything else we know is found on either of these sites or general web browsing. 

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda

CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/RW.html

We'll update with more interesting factoids as we learn them. 

What's the Plan?

Yes, we're moving to Rwanda! It's going to be a fast summer because we fly out for Africa on August 18! We have decided to join the team at Kigali International Community School (KICS) for the 2009-2010 school year. As you may know, Levi just completed the program for his teaching credential and he will be using all his skills there teaching junior high and high schoool math and possibly science. I (Erin) had a year full of decisions, substitute teaching and teaching for The Princeton Review as I completed prerequisites for grad school. At the end of the semester, I decided not to continue on the graduate school path, which really freed us up to leave the country. I am very excited about my teaching assignment at KICS - High school Bible and English! I went to Christian school for eight years and have been leading Bible studies for the past six years, but most importantly, studying the Bible is a huge joy and passion of mine. KICS is a Christian school for both Rwandan children and children of international workers. They provide the cost of our plane tickets and visas, which is very helpful. We will earn a small salary from the school, but are also praying about raising further funding. The school recommends coming as missionaries and raising additional support. Our hope would be to also bring in donations for opportunities we will encounter to provide for the community we serve, either as school supplies, shoes, or whatever.

Why Rwanda?

Well, numerous factors have come together to bring us to that particular. I've thought it would be neat to live abroad (on a short-term basis) ever since coming back from a wonderful semester abroad in Paris, France. Levi attended language school in Guatemala for a few months and has had a heart for Rwanda ever since becoming friends with a Rwandan missionary. Then, we found out that one of the members of my family will be moving to Kigali (the capitol of Rwanda) and invited us to go with them. We applied to KICS, had a great interview with the Headmaster, and now we're off!

Is it safe?

The genocide you're thinking of happened fifteen years ago. It's currently "safe, clean and well-organized," courtesy of the US Department of State.

How long are you going to be there?

As of right now, we're just taking it one year at a time, so we plan to be back in California in about one year from today.

Are you excited?

Yes. A little overwhelmed with all the details of the logistics in getting us over there, but excited for the opportunity to go and see what God has in store for us in this next year.

So we're going to Rwanda...

Erin and I just got hired, but the commute is crazy.